Wrath from Heaven

God’s Wrath Revealed from Heaven

Some have wondered about the statement in Romans 1:18 that “the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of people who suppress the truth in unrighteousness,” (NASB 2020)

They ask, “Why ‘from heaven’, doesn’t God live in His people?”

God is omnipresent. He is Spirit and He lives in His children by His Spirit.
The Scriptures are clear about that, but they also speak of His abode as heaven. We tend to think of heaven as a physical place. That’s because we live in a temporal terrarium constrained within space and time.

When we read of something coming from heaven, we might understand it as being sourced in God or coming from Him. That can seem abstract and even be a bit misleading however, because when we think of something ‘coming from’ or ‘sourced in’ God, we tend to interpret that as meaning that God caused it.

Then some wonder what wrath is and what it means that God’s wrath is being revealed.

God is just and justice will absolutely be done.

I currently view God's wrath as the natural reaction or the natural effect of evil encountering perfection. The two are incompatible.
Many things are incompatible with acid, for example. If acid comes encounters such things, they are disintegrated. That’s the natural effect of acid upon those things.

The instability and turmoil in the world show the natural reaction of wrath. They make it visible to us. Consequently, we can see the destructive effect of evil all around us. God’s wrath is revealed.

If evil did not exist in the world, there would be stability and peace instead of the destruction caused by instability and turmoil.

Wrath is a form of indignation against evil. It doesn't need to be caused by God because it is the natural effect of evil upon righteousness. It's righteous indignation and it ultimately results in the second death, eternal separation from the Source of Life. That's justice.